Bush not Wizard of Oz

The Hutchinson News ^ | 92706 | Kenneth B. Lucas

[kathsua]

Americans need to start living in the real world instead of the make-believe world portrayed by Hollywood. Presidents cannot completely solve every problem the way the Wizard of Oz supposedly could. President Bush may not be a great president, but he is doing a good job.

In Hollywood, the overthrow of a tyrant results in everyone immediately living happily ever after. In the real world, the fall of a tyrant is often followed by the type of situation that currently exists in Iraq.

The people of the Middle East have been killing each other for centuries. We cannot expect to stop the killing in a couple of years.

The War on Terror is an endurance contest like the Cold War, not a 100-yard dash like World War II. In war, as in football, keeping the action in the opponent's territory increases the chances of victory.

Except for the baby boom era, the North American economy has depended on immigration for growth since colonial times. In fact, when voluntary immigration didn't supply enough workers, some Americans kidnapped Africans and forced them to immigrate.

The problem with the current immigration law isn't the immigrants, but the outdated law that doesn't allow enough immigrants to easily enter the country legally to work. If we are going to call it a crime for people to come to the U.S. to work to provide a better life for themselves and their families, we should stop calling our country America. They are coming here to work, not to take land away from its residents like some of our ancestors did.

KENNETH B. LUCAS

[kathsua]

This will go over the heads of most Democrats who live in a Hollywood and Camelot fantasy world.

[mnehring]

Good article, bump for later reference..

[GianniV]

The first few paragraphs were good, but what's up with that immigrant rant at the end?

[rightinthemiddle]

I don't think much of the last paragraph:

The problem with the current immigration law isn't the immigrants, but the outdated law that doesn't allow enough immigrants to easily enter the country legally to work. If we are going to call it a crime for people to come to the U.S. to work to provide a better life for themselves and their families, we should stop calling our country America. They are coming here to work, not to take land away from its residents like some of our ancestors did.

[RichInOC]

Bush not Wizard of Oz

Well, yeah. That said, I'd still like to see what'd happen if you dumped a bucket of water on Hillary Clinton.

[Laz711]

You mean that he can't give liberals a brain?
Can't give Democrats Courage?
Can't give socialists a brain?
Can't send Pelosi back home?

Say it isn't so!

[Jewels1091]

President Bush may not be a great president

Strongly disagree...he will be remembered as the BEST president!

[theDentist]

It reminds me of the story of the King who once walked to the see, gathered about him were his queen, princes, princesses, advisors and generals and anyone in sight.

He pointed at the ocean and told the waves to cease splashing. They continued. He pointed to the sky and told the clouds to disappear, and they continued their quiet trek across the sky.
He told the sun to dim, and it blazed on.

And then he told his people "There are limits to even a King's power, and to the powers of those whom he would command."

[subterfuge]

If we are going to call it a crime for people to come to the U.S. to work to provide a better life for themselves and their families, we should stop calling our country America

If you're going to keep beating your wife then people should stop calling you her husband.

Neither of these statements make any sense.

[Bommer]

Not bloody well likely. He could have been, but he allows his enemys to gladly steamroller him. He allows treason to go unpunished. He allows illegals to enter our country with no plans to stop them (other than lip service). And he is trying to fight a war through politically correct means! Above average will be his rating, but he will never approach Reagan status as truly great! That is the gold standard!

[mnehring]

From an economics point of view, I agree with the last paragraph. In a functioning capitalist society, you are generally going to have 4-5% of people who are unemployable- either by choice or by circumstance. With this, we are at full unemployment. Based on the estimate that there are 12 million illegal immigrants here (the exact number doesn't matter in this case)- lets assume half are employed. There was a demand for these jobs within the workforce, and being at statistical full employment, the jobs had to be filled from somewhere.

The choices are:
1. Innovate the jobs out of existence.
2. Attract migration of employment within current population by pricing wages higher.
3. Allow legal immigration to fill the jobs.
4. Have a black market of employment (ie, illegal immigration.)


The first option is obviously ideal in the long run, however, with all innovation, it does not solve the problem instantly. If someone created a genetically modified grass that only grows one inch high today and only costs a few dollars to plant, it would still take years for this to spread across the consumer population. This doesn't eliminate the need for lawn mowers instantly.

The second option is very pie in the sky as the market already controls this, however, there are caps in what the market is willing to withstand. Simply put, if we listen to McLame and offer $50 for people to pick lettuce, it will attract a lot of lettuce pickers, but how long will consumers put up with lettuce at $15 a head? (current lettuce picker salary approx $5/hr, current head of lettuce approx $1.50- if the rate of salary increases by 10 fold, natural ot assume cost would increase by the rate of expense)..

The third option is how this country has always worked. LEGAL immigrants come into this country in that our lowest salaries exceed the average salary in many countries. LEGAL immigrants are willing to start at the bottom at the jobs which are priced below our current workforce or that our current workforce cannot staff.

The last option is obviously the worst, but sadly, it is the situation we have. The black market of employment (ie ILLEGAL immigration) has been created because innovation hasn't replaced the workers, the market feeds off of a certain price baseline in products, and we have restrictions on LEGAL immigration.

A fix is to somehow find a shift for the need for black market employment. LEGAL immigration, along with innovation will eliminate the need for black market employment then all of these stupid ideas like amnesty won't be needed....

[Names Ash Housewares]

Even the Wizard of Oz was not the Wizard of Oz they thought he was.

He pointed out to those seeking his help that they had had it in them all along to help themselves.

[usapatriot28]

This person, like most illegal immigration apologists, misses the whole point between current immigrates and previous generations. The previous immigrates to this country came here to become Americans. They wanted to start their life over and become contributing members of their newly chosen country. As a result American became a stronger and more diverse nation.

Today's illegal immigrates (for the most part, there are certainly exceptions) have no desire to become American. They want to remain Mexican (or Guatemalan or whatever) but reap the benefits of being an American. That is not a pattern that is sustainable and ultimately will be destructive to this country.

[kingu]

Started off great, then went to the land of morons...

The problem with the current immigration law isn't the immigrants, but the outdated law that doesn't allow enough immigrants to easily enter the country legally to work. If we are going to call it a crime for people to come to the U.S. to work to provide a better life for themselves and their families, we should stop calling our country America. They are coming here to work, not to take land away from its residents like some of our ancestors did.

So, let's see.. The blame is 'outdated law' that doesn't allow enough 'legal immigrants'. And we should fix it because of cultural guilt because 'take land away from its residents like some of our ancestors did.'

Only La Raza would be very grateful to do the job of taking the land away from us... But I digress. The immigration system is not flawed, it is extremely well thought out, and designed to ensure the integration of nearly a million people a year into our nation. That's one out of every 300 people, quite a bit of growth.

Where the system is flawed is in not enforcing the immgiration system, deporting illegals, punishing those who help illegals, and punishing companies that employ those illegals. In fact, every thing I just mentioned is part of existing law. Including temporary working permits for those who intend to just come here long enough to pick up a quick buck.

If writers like this one pull their heads out of their rumps, they might actually realize these points. Instead, they once again call upon the legislative to come up with a whole new set of rules that will not be followed.

Counting family members brought in, less than fifty percent of the illegals in country during the Reagan Amnesty even bothered to fill out the forms. People should DO THEIR JOBS, enforce existing law, and stop monkeying around. Hello? Citizen speaking here, not some advocate for a bunch of criminals who don't vote!

[kathsua]

Sounds like a good idea.

[jalexson]

You really need to study American history. The English didn't come here to become "Americans". Every group has brought something of their culture to the great melting pot to add to its culture. Even the Africans who were forced to come here brought some of their culture, particularly their music.

We celebrate the Irish holiday Saint Patrick's Day and the Italian holiday "Columbus Day". Many small towns here in Kansas celebrate holidays of the homelands of their founders.

Drive down any major commercial street and you'll find Italian, Asian and Mexican fast food restaurants.

If you'll check the history of immigrant groups you will notice that later generations gradually adopt the broader American culture. The 1st and 2nd generations born here are particularly susceptible to wanting to abandon their parents' culture, in part due to the normal youth rejection of the parents' lifestyle.

One of the most important ingredients of American culture is the believe that advancement is achieved by hard work and sacrifice -- beliefs that many natural born Americans have
been abandoning.